The extension of Intelligence Bureau (IB) director general Aftab Sultan’s tenure is a hot topic in Islamabad.
Traditionally, the IB reports to the prime minister on intelligence matters, compared with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate which keeps the army chief in the loop, sometimes bypassing the civilian head of government.
Mr Sultan, a career police officer, was given the job in June last year. Before he could reach the age of superannuation, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif asked him to continue with the job. The apparent reason for the extension was that he was overseeing reforms in the civilian intelligence agency.
But some in Islamabad are skeptical. Whispers coming out of closed-door meetings say civil and military leaders are not on the same page on this matter.
In recent meetings, where the army chief and the director general of ISI dilated upon the strategy to deal with Taliban militants, they were said to have complained to the prime minister and the interior minister about possible bugging of their phones. And the IB was the prime suspect. The civilian leaders swore they had never asked the IB to bug telephones of senior military officials.
The PML-N does not have a great track record as far as eavesdropping is concerned. During the previous tenures of Sharif, telephones of the political rivals, judges and army officials were being bugged. The IB was listening to private conversations of the government’s opponents.
[quote]Army and ISI chiefs are said to have complained to the prime minister about the possible bugging of their phones[/quote]
After the October 1999 military coup, then attorney general Aziz A Munshi told the Supreme Court in May 2000 that the deposed prime minister’s government had tapped the telephones of judges, journalists, opposition politicians and leading businessmen.
Munshi said on the record during the hearing of the plane hijacking case against Sharif that his government had bugged scores of telephones, including those of then chief justice Irshad Hasan Khan, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and politician Imran Khan. The PML-N always denied the charges.
The IB was marginalized during the nine-year tenure of General Musharraf. The former military dictator had relied heavily on ISI and the Military Intelligence (MI). In some cases like the operation against Nawab Akbar Bugti and Lal Masjid, the MI’s advice was preferred over the ISI’s.
The mandate of the IB was to keep a close check on internal security and emerging indigenous threats to the state as well as the government. Monitoring the activities of political opponents of the sitting government is one basic responsibility of the bureau. One specific branch of the IB deals with foreign diplomats and observes their activities.
In recent closed-door meetings, the government tried to justify the extension citing transparency and better performance. The government was perturbed with the reports that massive secret funds of the bureau were misused during the People’s Party government. Besides, Mr Sultan was also tasked to revamp the bureau both logistically and in terms of human resource.
PML-N insiders said the prime minister and the interior minister have assuaged the military leadership to the best of their ability. They have managed to control the damage. However, such matters are not easily forgotten.
Earlier this month, the Senate standing committee on rules and procedures and privileges summoned the director general of IB over the allegations that the phones of parliamentarians were being tapped.
Mr Sultan categorically denied the IB was listening to private conversation of parliamentarians. Awami National Party leader Senator Haji Adeel had moved a privilege-motion requesting a probe into the allegations.
“The bureau works under the authority granted by the government to protect state interest and is not involved in tapping of parliamentarians’ phone calls,” Mr Sultan told the standing committee.
The committee had also summoned the heads of ISI and MI, but they refused to appear. The committee members were annoyed and reminded them through statements that the Parliament was supreme and the standing committees were an integral part of the Parliament.
There were reports recently that intelligence agencies were tapping telephone conversations of senior bureaucrats and federal ministers as well.
Phone tapping and eavesdropping are universally considered a serious crime. The most notorious scandal of bugging private conversations was Watergate, which ended in the humiliating downfall of US President Richard Nixon in 1974.
Last year, revelations by former National Surveillance Agency (NSA) operative Edward Snowden shocked the world.
Snowden, now living in asylum in Russia, revealed that the NSA bugged the conversation of world leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Shahzad Raza is a journalist based in Islamabad. Follow him on Twitter @shahzadrez
Traditionally, the IB reports to the prime minister on intelligence matters, compared with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate which keeps the army chief in the loop, sometimes bypassing the civilian head of government.
Mr Sultan, a career police officer, was given the job in June last year. Before he could reach the age of superannuation, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif asked him to continue with the job. The apparent reason for the extension was that he was overseeing reforms in the civilian intelligence agency.
But some in Islamabad are skeptical. Whispers coming out of closed-door meetings say civil and military leaders are not on the same page on this matter.
In recent meetings, where the army chief and the director general of ISI dilated upon the strategy to deal with Taliban militants, they were said to have complained to the prime minister and the interior minister about possible bugging of their phones. And the IB was the prime suspect. The civilian leaders swore they had never asked the IB to bug telephones of senior military officials.
The PML-N does not have a great track record as far as eavesdropping is concerned. During the previous tenures of Sharif, telephones of the political rivals, judges and army officials were being bugged. The IB was listening to private conversations of the government’s opponents.
[quote]Army and ISI chiefs are said to have complained to the prime minister about the possible bugging of their phones[/quote]
After the October 1999 military coup, then attorney general Aziz A Munshi told the Supreme Court in May 2000 that the deposed prime minister’s government had tapped the telephones of judges, journalists, opposition politicians and leading businessmen.
Munshi said on the record during the hearing of the plane hijacking case against Sharif that his government had bugged scores of telephones, including those of then chief justice Irshad Hasan Khan, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and politician Imran Khan. The PML-N always denied the charges.
The IB was marginalized during the nine-year tenure of General Musharraf. The former military dictator had relied heavily on ISI and the Military Intelligence (MI). In some cases like the operation against Nawab Akbar Bugti and Lal Masjid, the MI’s advice was preferred over the ISI’s.
The mandate of the IB was to keep a close check on internal security and emerging indigenous threats to the state as well as the government. Monitoring the activities of political opponents of the sitting government is one basic responsibility of the bureau. One specific branch of the IB deals with foreign diplomats and observes their activities.
In recent closed-door meetings, the government tried to justify the extension citing transparency and better performance. The government was perturbed with the reports that massive secret funds of the bureau were misused during the People’s Party government. Besides, Mr Sultan was also tasked to revamp the bureau both logistically and in terms of human resource.
PML-N insiders said the prime minister and the interior minister have assuaged the military leadership to the best of their ability. They have managed to control the damage. However, such matters are not easily forgotten.
Earlier this month, the Senate standing committee on rules and procedures and privileges summoned the director general of IB over the allegations that the phones of parliamentarians were being tapped.
Mr Sultan categorically denied the IB was listening to private conversation of parliamentarians. Awami National Party leader Senator Haji Adeel had moved a privilege-motion requesting a probe into the allegations.
“The bureau works under the authority granted by the government to protect state interest and is not involved in tapping of parliamentarians’ phone calls,” Mr Sultan told the standing committee.
The committee had also summoned the heads of ISI and MI, but they refused to appear. The committee members were annoyed and reminded them through statements that the Parliament was supreme and the standing committees were an integral part of the Parliament.
There were reports recently that intelligence agencies were tapping telephone conversations of senior bureaucrats and federal ministers as well.
Phone tapping and eavesdropping are universally considered a serious crime. The most notorious scandal of bugging private conversations was Watergate, which ended in the humiliating downfall of US President Richard Nixon in 1974.
Last year, revelations by former National Surveillance Agency (NSA) operative Edward Snowden shocked the world.
Snowden, now living in asylum in Russia, revealed that the NSA bugged the conversation of world leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Shahzad Raza is a journalist based in Islamabad. Follow him on Twitter @shahzadrez